IDW has announced a 30th Anniversary Special that highlights the different eras of the comic -- an Eastman story set in the Mirage v1 era, a Murphy/Allan story in the Archie TMNT universe, a Carlson/Foswell story in the Image TMNT universe, a Lawson story in the Mirage vol 4 era, and a new story by the current team in the current continuity.

And it's got a cover by Eastman and Laird. Which means this is their first collaboration in, what, twenty years?

Eastman has some very kind words for Laird in that interview -- really night and day from what he was saying about him back in '07. Seven years is a long time, and Eastman's a young guy; looks like he's grown up a bit. I'd like to think he's sincere, but if not, he's at least learned to be diplomatic.

But hell, if Simon and Garfunkel can be friends again I don't see why Eastman and Laird can't.

I haven't been following the new TMNT series much; I've picked up an issue here and there and enjoyed it (particularly the special Eastman put together himself that really felt like the original '80's stuff) but I've had enough fucking continuity reboots and this one just hasn't grabbed me. But I'll definitely be picking up the anniversary issue. Sounds great. Hell, even the Image stuff.

EDIT: Oh, and it looks like Laird has a making-of post at his blog. And apparently this is actually their second collaboration since the old days -- they did a benefit print back in aught-nine (oh hey, the last time there was an anniversary that was a multiple of 5).

Guess Eastman penciled and Laird inked, which makes sense given that they're in different locations. But that's actually not how they did it in the old days -- when they first started, they split all the work, writing, drawing, inking, toning. (I don't remember if they lettered it themselves too and don't feel like looking it up right now, but I bet they did.)

The 30th Anniversary comic's pretty good; it's nice to see all the different creators' takes on all the different versions of the Turtles.

Eastman's, at the front, is a reprint from Hero Comics and it comes out looking the weakest -- it's blurry, like it was upscaled in Photoshop. It's fun, but it's hard to get over the slightly fuzzy edges on all the lines.

The real highlight (despite being one of those comics that tries to duplicate the old four-color style by abusing the fuck out of Photoshop gradients) is the TMNT Adventures story, which features the return of Bebop and Rocksteady. If you read TMNTA you probably remember their ultimate fate -- they were left on a primitive Eden world where they got to live among other animals and just run with the herd, and they found they were much happier and more carefree there. Well, in this story they've come back to Earth to buy some junk food, and they're not wearing pants.

It is delightful.

I read that the special sold out at retail (check your LCS; mine still had a copy left on the rack when I was there on Friday); I hope that IDW sees that as interest in more stuff like this. I know that Murphy and Allan have been talking about finally publishing Forever War since the LAST TMNT relaunch, and I'd love to see it.

I think I got the digital versions of #29 and #30 from Wowio back when Wowio was a thing. I don't remember ever reading #30 or even knowing #31 had been released. (Per Laird's notes on his blog, it wasn't printed -- at least, not yet --, just digital; I don't think it was on Wowio.)

EDIT: Found #31 in his blog archive. To my knowledge the first 30 don't seem to be online (legally) anymore since Wowio closed up shop, the print editions of #29 and #30 are sold out, and #31 has not been released in print even though #32 has.

Thad wrote:Found #31 in his blog archive. To my knowledge the first 30 don't seem to be online (legally) anymore since Wowio closed up shop, the print editions of #29 and #30 are sold out, and #31 has not been released in print even though #32 has.

I haven't been reading the IDW TMNT series -- I picked up the first couple of issues and decided I needed another decompressed reboot origin story like I needed a punch in the balls.

But I happened to get the Donatello Microseries for free on Comixology, and it was good enough for me to buy the trade with the first four microseries in it (one for each turtle; I believe there's a volume 2 that includes Splinter, April, Casey, and...not sure who else).

It's good! I think the Donatello one really is the standout; it's about Don's brothers not understanding him or sharing his interests, about his online friendships (and not-friendships), and what can happen when you meet a guy in person who you've only known online. Which isn't to say it skimps on the action; there's plenty of that, too. But the character relationship stuff is what makes Don the most relatable of the four.

But the other three are good too! Raph has a good story where he and Casey fight a pre-mutation Bebop and Rocksteady and meet a new character named Alopex (who bears a certain resemblance to Ninjara from the Archie series), Michelangelo accidentally wanders into the middle of a heist at the Museum of Natural History, and Leonardo fights a shitload of ninjas.

It bears adding that all four stories recall the original microseries from the '80's -- Raph goes out on patrol with Casey, Mike has a holiday-themed adventure, Don makes a human friend, and Leo fights a shitload of ninjas.

Each story has a different artist, and each is well-suited to the story. If I had to pick a favorite, it's Ross Campbell's work on Leonardo, but they're all solid.

Anyhow, it's a good solid book and a nice entry point for the IDW TMNT universe. The stories are self-contained (though Raphael and Leonardo rely a little more on the main series' continuity than Michelangelo and Donatello -- which was also true of the original microseries, come to think of it) and they're well-written, well-drawn, and fun. I'm still not planning on picking up the IDW series on a regular basis, but I'll probably grab more trades here and there. I hear good things about the recent Turtles in Time miniseries. (Feathered dinosaurs!)

One for the Fun Facts thread: it was directed by the same guy as the Take On Me video. Who brought Jim Henson onboard because they'd worked together on The Storyteller and Labyrinth.

The guys who worked the Turtles' facial expressions watched the actors do script reads so they could duplicate the facial expressions they made while reading them.

Also, this bit from Eastman

He came in and had gone through the comic books, and picked out scenes from [issue] number one or number 10 and said, "Here's the movie."

made me smile. Because he is not pulling those numbers out of his ass; those are specific issue numbers. Lots and lots of comic book creators, after 30 years, are not going to be able to accurately recall what happened in which issue; Kevin Eastman does.

(More specifically, the movie is based on issues #1, #10, #11, and the Raphael and Leonardo one-shots.

Issue #1 is, of course, the origin story.

Raphael features the debut of Casey Jones, which is adapted pretty straight-across for the movie.

Leonardo is the issue where Leo is ambushed by a fuckload of Foot ninja, who then proceed to beat the hell out of him. (This was changed to Raph in the movie.)

Issue #10 follows immediately after, with the Foot and Shredder's attack on April's apartment and antique store, with Casey coming in as the cavalry. (Biggest changes in the movie: Shredder is swapped out for his second-in-command Tatsu, Splinter isn't there because in the movie he's been captured, and Raphael is actually comatose in the movie where Leo was just really beat-up in the comic.)

And issue #11 is where they flee to Casey's family farm (April's family farm in the movie). The scene with Casey and Don bickering while fixing up the truck is from the comic, but it was Casey and Raph in the comic. April's description of Casey as a ten-year-old trapped in a man's body is paraphrased from the comic, which gave Casey a little bit more credit and described him as struggling between being a sensitive, mature adult and a 10-year-old boy.

And then the final rooftop showdown with the Shredder is a bit like the end of issue #1 again, but really only a bit.)

And here's a great bit from Josh Pais (Raphael, and the only Turtle actor who did the body and voice):

The first thing we shot might have been when you first see the Turtles walking through the sewer and coming into where they live. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. There was water on the ground and we realized the latex was very slippery. We'd be going along, and one of us would wipe out. That opening sequence took about eight or nine hours. Things would break down. Those frustrations helped me to really find a way to physicalize Raphael's anger — his fury. The whole situation, I just used it to create this guy.

Movie also has stuff from the return to new york arc if I recall correctly. I remember being really struck after re-watching the movie for the first time after reading the first 30 or so comics that one of the shots in the big fight at the end of the movie was an exact recreation of a panel from the comics.

kashan wrote:Movie also has stuff from the return to new york arc if I recall correctly.

Well, in that they leave the farm and return to New York. And I think Raph gives Leo some shit about how they should take the fight to the Shredder instead of hiding, but in a TMNT story that's called Tuesday.

I'd say TMNT (the animated one from '07) had more of Return to New York in it, in that it was the one that really dealt with Leo and Raph having an all-out brawl. It had a bit of City at War in it, too, with Karai and the resurgent Foot, and a bit of the volume 2 arc by having the Turtles separated.

So I'm running behind on the cartoon, but man, by the end of season 2 it's sure taken a major tonal shift from where it started out. For an episode that guest stars Roseanne Barr and Gilbert Gottfried, it is surprisingly grim.

It's yet another adaptation of the "Leonardo gets seven shades of shit kicked out of him and April, Casey, and the Turtles flee New York" story. They forego April's apartment getting burned down in this version, but instead there is a full-scale alien invasion and the Turtles fail to stop it. (Questions I have: (1) where the fuck is the US military during this episode and (2) how long are the Turtles going to stay in Northampton, and are we to assume New York is under the control of the Kraang that entire time and nobody else manages to do anything about it?)

I'd say the fight between Leonardo and the Foot is, on the whole, handled better here than it was in the '03 series (though I still prefer the '03 series overall); that version made the questionable decision of covering him with weird-looking bruises over the course of the fight, and also had that completely fucking distracting segment where he's attacked by a bunch of Foot Ninja using cloaking devices, who manage to stay completely invisible even though it is raining. The '012 series uses drifting snow (like in the comic) instead of rain, and I think the effect is much better. Also, no cloaking devices. I'd still probably give the edge to the first movie as the best adaptation of this sequence, but of course the cartoon benefits from being able to do whatever it wants with the camera, and gets some pretty cool shots in there.

And then season 3 starts and they're on the farm, and it borrows a lot from the first movie visually (Leo comatose in the bathtub with Raph watching over him -- roles are reversed but it's definitely the same scene --, Don and Casey working on the truck).

And Leo's been recast, which is jarring, but at least they address and explain it in dialogue (his larynx was damaged in the fight). I kinda like this, because (1) as a kid I always thought it was kind of insulting when Shredder's or Raph's voice would change for an episode and they acted like I was too dumb to notice the difference, and (2) I find it plausible that if you punched Jason Biggs in the throat hard enough it would make him sound like Seth Green.

My wife picked up a DVD for our nephew that had the first 5 and last 4 episodes of the original cartoon series.

This was what the opening titles looked like at the end of the series:

what the shit man, what the shit.

I actually kinda like April's design with the tan coat instead of the yellow jumpsuit*, but the Turtles' redesigns with the visible green skin around their eyes and white lines on their shells are distracting as hell. (Those details might not be visible in this video, which is pretty crappy quality.)

Also man the animation on the first 5 episodes of the series is a lot worse than I remembered it. So is the writing. Ugh.

* Note: In Turtles Forever, when the 2003 Turtles meet 1987 April, they make fun of her yellow jumpsuit. However, when 2003 April shows up, she is also wearing a yellow jumpsuit, which kinda undercuts the joke.

(Well, Paulsen was a gimme, obviously. But they got Clarke, Coleman, and Gordon, too.)

I expect they'll at least hang a lampshade on Turtles Forever, but I'm hoping they go full-out with it and have the '87 Turtles casually comment that oh yeah, they've run into parallel-universe doppelgangers a couple of times already.